In the end, Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordan didn’t go anywhere. Bradley wasn’t traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs. Jordan wasn’t dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers or Washington Wizards. Rumors did not become reality.

The NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday and the Clippers stayed put.

Well, Bradley and Jordan did join their Clippers teammates for their chartered flight to Detroit for a reunion Friday with Blake Griffin. The Clippers made their big move more than a week before the deadline, sending Griffin, Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to the Pistons on Jan. 29.

The Clippers received Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and two draft picks in exchange for Griffin, a five-time All-Star power forward with a history of significant injuries and a new five-year, $173-million contract.

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, also locked up backup shooting guard Lou Williams for the next three seasons, signing him to a $24 million contract extension that keeps him in uniform through 2020-21.

By keeping Bradley, Jordan and Williams, the Clippers signaled their intention to remain competitive this season while positioning themselves for a free-agent spending spree in 2019. Bradley and Jordan can become free agents at the end of this season.

Plus, Williams’ relatively modest $8 million salary could make him easier to trade, if the Clippers decide to flip him at a later date. Williams, who was traded from the Lakers to the Houston Rockets to the Clippers in a four-month span last year, took less money in order to extend his stay.

Coach Doc Rivers spoke excitedly about the prospect next season of having a guard rotation of Bradley, Williams, Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers and Milos Teodosic. Bradley and Beverley could be among the best one-two backcourt defenders in the NBA.

Beverley underwent season-ending knee surgery Nov. 22, but is expected to be fit for 2018-19. He and Williams were acquired from the Rockets in the blockbuster trade that sent Chris Paul to Houston on June 28, the start of the Clippers’ remodeling project.

“I can’t wait for the Avery, Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers lineup defensively,” Doc Rivers said. “I wouldn’t want to play against that. That’s going to be really cool. Unfortunately, we may have to wait a while (until Beverley is sound).”

Motown meet-up

Williams didn’t expect a warm reception from Griffin, at least not on the court anyway.

“Blake’s going to hack the hell out of somebody, I’ll tell you that right now,” Williams said.

The Pistons have won four in a row with Griffin in their lineup, including a victory Wednesday over the Brooklyn Nets in which he scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. Overall, Detroit has won five consecutive.

“Obviously, I know all those guys really well,” Griffin told reporters in Detroit when asked about the Clippers. “I can’t say that it’s just another game. At the end of the day, we’re trying to get wins, they’re trying to get wins. I’m not really the type of guy to be all buddy-buddy during the game.”

The Pistons traded Johnson to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for James Ennis and sent Reed to the Chicago Bulls for Jameer Nelson. The Bulls then waived Reed, who was suspended earlier in the week by the NBA for six games for an offseason domestic violence incident.

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.